The Benefits of Creatine: Should You Supplement?

The Benefits of Creatine Supplements and Muscle Building

At present, creatine is the most popular muscle building supplement out there. In fact, it’s the only naturally-occurring supplement (your body makes creatine on its own) that can actually help you build lean muscle mass. Here’re some of the reasons why…

• Creatine provides an increase in energy supply for your muscles. In short, you’ll be able to push your muscles harder for a longer period of time.

• Creatine helps to increase protein synthesis in micro-torn muscle fibers. This means potentially increased gains from individual workouts.

• Creatine has been shown to decrease recovery time after a hard workout.

• Visible muscular gains can be obtained quickly, especially if you take creatine for the first time. It's important to discern muscle gain and water-weight gain.

The energy-providing and storage ability of creatine is actually its main function. But how does this actually happen?

Each muscle cell in your body contains an enzyme called creatine kinase that removes a phosphate from ATP and stores that phosphate in a molecule of creatine. The resulting ADP returns to the mitochondrion, where another phosphate is attached.

The end result is a "reserve tank" of ATP to fuel your workouts. You'll be able to push your muscles harder thereby making greater gains. But how can you reap the benefits of these supplements, the smart way?

Before you embark on any sort of supplement program, it's extremely important to understand how to take creatine! You can't just pop a pill or take some powder whenever you feel down - there's a method to it!

One of the most effective ways to take creatine is through cycling, while another popular method is creatine loading. However, taking creatine can really improve your results, especially if you take them correctly!

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